One of the many reasons I am a member of the American Society for Microbiology is their dedication not only to excellent science, but science communication and public policy. “Microbes After Hours” is one of their fabulous science communication events. Since 2012, the ASM headquarters in Washington, DC has opened its doors to anyone interested in microbiology for talks, appetizers, and some microbially-fermented beverages. For those who can’t make it to DC, the talks are live streamed through ASM’s MicrobeWorld site. Speakers even take questions via email and twitter at the end of the talk. Fortunately, my mama-scientist, microbe-road trip friend, Robin Munroe, and I made it down in person to the January 28, 2016 Microbes After Hours that featured Dr. Marti Blaser talking about his research and book, Missing Microbes. Read more about his book in this previous post. I was thrilled to finally get my copy of his book signed! Below is our journey in photos compliments of Robin! She also live-tweeted our trip. For future adventures – follow me on Twitter @mostlymicrobes. Microbes After Hours Do you have questions about this or Dr. Blaser’s book? Anything else microbe related? Feel free to ask in the comments section below, fill out a
#MicrobeWeek: Continuing the Celebration
More #MicrobeWeek YouTube videos including one we made. Yesterday’s post on #MicrobeWeek featured a fabulous video Microbes of New York from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). #MicrobeWeek was inspired the current microbially focused exhibition The Secret World Inside You, at AMNH (see my review). AMNH teamed up with BrainCraft, Gross Science, and Science Friday to create four YouTube videos and other content about their favorite microbial research.
#MicrobeWeek: Celebrating the Small
The American Museum of Natural History, PBS’ Brain Craft and Gross Science, and Science Friday have teamed up to spread the love and importance of microbes during #MicrobeWeek! You still have a few more days to celebrate #MicrobeWeek – a celebration of the small and certainly my favorite week! #MicrobeWeek was created by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in celebration of their current microbially focused exhibition The Secret World Inside You, (see my review). AMNH teamed up with BrainCraft, Gross Science, and Science Friday to create four YouTube videos and other content about their favorite microbial research. Erin Chapman, Senior New Media Specialist at AMNH, says, “We figured with all the “awareness” hashtag days out there, microbes certainly deserve their own week. It’s really only recently that the study of the microbial world has become (as curators Susan Perkins and Rob DeSalle describe in their book Welcome To the Microbiome) “a full-fledged scientific field,” but the amount of research that’s being done now is just phenomenal. To me, it feels like microbiome research is a big part of the contemporary scientific zeitgeist, but hasn’t yet made as huge an impression on the general public. We want to get folks as